Web building vocabulary

Address: (n) Another name for this is URL. It refers to a location on the Internet. Example: the address of Yahoo is www.yahoo.com.

Bandwidth: (n) The speed of an Internet connection. 56K modems are low-bandwidth. DSL and cable connections are high bandwidth.

Domain name: (n) The name of a website. For example, the domain name of Yahoo is yahoo. If you want your own domain name, for example Yuki Satou, you need to buy yukisatou.com.

Download: (v) To get software or anything else from the Internet to your computer.

Extension: (n) The end of a filename; the part of the filename that comes after the dot. For example, the extension of a Word document is .doc. The extension of a webpage can be either .htm or .html.

Font: (n)The style of a word. For example, Arial or Times New Roman.

Format: (n) The way something is saved. For example, the format for images in webpages is usually .gif or .jpeg.

File: (n) This refers to almost anything on your computer. It can be a word document, a movie, or a webpage.

File size: (n) The measurement of how much information the file has contained in it. Not to be confused with height and width. For example. The file size of a small picture on the Internet should be about 10k.

Graphic: (n) A picture or drawing. Also called an image.

Hardware: (n) The part of a computer you can touch, for example the hard drive, the monitor, the keyboard, etc.

HTML: (n) HyperText Markup Language.

Host: (n) Another computer that stores your webpage so that people on the Internet can reach it. A host can be anywhere in the world.

Home Page: (n) Sometimes refers to a website, and sometimes to the first page of a website.

Index: (n) In web building, it is the name that the main page of your website must have. Be sure to call the first page of your website index.html. (v) to organize.

Image: (n) A picture or graphic.

Image editor: (n) Software that allows you to change an image. For example, you might want to make the picture smaller or change a color in it. Photoshop is an image editor, as is Paint.

Java: (n) A programming language that can, for example, allow you to play interactive games with other people on the Internet. It runs from the server (Internet) side.

JavaScript: (n) A small program that runs on the local (client-side) computer. It can tell you the date, or close windows, or allow you to see animations, etc.

Nested: (n) Inside. For example, nested tables are tables inside each other. You should avoid having more than 3 nested tables. (v) Nest: to put inside.

Palette: (n) A floating (moveable) window in Dreamweaver that allows you to choose options. The Properties Inspector is used more often than the others.

Pixels: Picture Elements. Dots that make up a computer or digitized image.

Pointer: (n) The arrow that represents your mouse on the screen.

Post: (v) Publish. When you transfer the webpage from your to the host server so that everyone on the Internet can see the changes.

Publish: (v) Same as post.

Save: (v) To keep a copy of what you are working on. You should save all the time--every couple of minutes--in case your computer crashes.

Server: (n) A computer that sends out information. A host server holds your webpage so that other people on the Internet can see it. (v) Serve: to send out.

Server farm: (n) A group of servers or computers. Google has a server farm of thousands of computers because so many people use their search engine.

Search Engine: (n) A service where you can find things on the Internet. Google.com is the best search engine, in my opinion.

Software: (n) The part of the computer you can’t physically touch. Software has instructions to tell hardware how to work.

Root folder: (n) The main folder of your website.

Text: (n) letters or words

Usability: (n) The area of concern in web design that is about making a webpage easy to use and ensuring that people can find what they want.

URL: (n) Universal Resource Locator. It is the unique address of any webpage on the Internet.

Web building: (n) Also called web publishing. Making webpages.

Webpage: (n) One page on a website. Sometimes also means a whole website.

Web publishing: (n) Same as web building. Making webpages.

Website, Web site: (n) A group of pages that has text and images that people can see on the Internet.

Webmaster, Web Builder, Webmistress, Web Publisher, Web Developer: (n) a person who makes webpages.

WYSIWYG: (n) What You See Is What You Get. An expression that describes when you're using a software tool that lets you make a webpage, and shows you exactly what the page will look like once you put it on the Internet.